Ocean Home magazine is for people who love the luxury oceanfront lifestyle, from home design and decor to world-class beach resorts, villas, hotels, and destinations.
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SHELTER | THE LIFE No Bull Frank Heaps made a name for himself as a beer guy, but it’s his humble beginnings and shrewd investments that have made his retirement in St. Lucia a dream come true. By Jack Morris For a man whose first job was shoveling a winter’s worth of manure out of a dusty Canadian bullpen, Frank Heaps hardly seems a likely candidate for the “I wish I were in his shoes” honor. Add to that his failing out of high school and then working underground in a uranium mine, and one begins to wonder how he could ever have become a beer magnate, an angel investor, a United Nations economic consultant, and a high-end Caribbean real estate developer. Now the owner of The Landings in St. Lucia, a 232-unit luxury development on Rodney Bay, Heaps splits his time between Toronto, the Ontario countryside, and St. Lucia. As the single biggest shareholder at The Landings, Heaps bought a two-bedroom unit there for himself and his family (he is married with four children and four grandchildren). “I spent a 34 oceanhomemag.com may + june 2010 lot of capital on this place and didn’t have a lot left over,” he says. “Then I told my wife I bought a two-bedroom beach unit. I eventu- ally regretted not buying a three-bedroom unit, though, because of the size of my family.” Heaps especially loves the extra-large terrace on the top shining moment Frank Heaps, top right, and his St. Lucia home overlooking Rodney Bay. floor. “We look straight out over the bay, right into the setting sun. It’s spectacular,” he says. “We live on the terrace. You go to bed, you get up, you go to the terrace. We never dine at the table—it’s always out on the terrace.” As the former owner of Upper Canada Brewing Company, Heaps understands what it takes to make a good product. But after retiring in 1999, he quickly realized that he couldn’t sit still. “I really wanted to sink my teeth into something else,” he says. “St. Lucia is a very hot luxury destination. The best way to ensure the success of a product is to make it the best and market it to a niche market that will pay the premium price.” But for Heaps, no amount of money can compare to the feeling he gets on his terrace, looking out over the ocean. “Just being able to look at the water and go out on it has always been a strong attraction,” he says.